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Glass Shop

Glasswork is accepted in and dispensed from the glass shop which is located in the McMillen building, Room 102.

The chemistry glass shop provides for the construction of special Pyrex and quartz glass laboratory apparatus. To this end, the shop is equipped with a four-inch glassblower's lathe, an annealing oven, a carborundum cut-off wheel and a variety of burners. Various sizes of Pyrex tubing, flasks, beakers, ground glass and other joints and stopcocks are available in the shop or in the chemistry storeroom.

Glassblowing requests are handled by Matt Reinsch. Students are urged to learn the rudiments of glassblowing and to practice enough to make simple constructions themselves. More complex repairs and constructions, however, are out of the range of the ability of most students and should be submitted to Mr. Reinsch. You may not use shop equipment when Mr. Reinsch is not available.

Orders for glassblowing are usually handled in the sequence in which they are received. The backlog is sometimes large, so it is advisable to anticipate needs as far in advance as possible in order to avoid undue delays in the research project. Emergencies do, of course, arise, and Mr. Reinsch will make every attempt to help. Please do not, however, exaggerate the urgency of your needs for this makes it difficult for him to maintain proper priorities.

Job cards must be filled out for all glass shop submissions. Each card, available at the shop, requires the name of the submittor, the name of the principal investigator or the person responsible for payment, and the address of the department or company involved. The PO or payment fund number expedites the job processing.

Submissions of apparatus to be constructed or modified require a dimensioned drawing, clearly specifying the result desired. Submissions for repair require only a statement of such, unless there is some ambiguity in the design; then a drawing may also be useful. If the job is a modification or addition to a pre-existing item of equipment, please state the name of the equipment.

Job cards are available from Mr. Reinsch. Jobs are not accepted in the morning hours.

Cost estimates can be provided only on the basis of a clear understanding by the shop of the materials and steps involved in the construction or modification of the apparatus requested. Visualization of the damage in the apparatus due for repair is very helpful in this regard.

The fee for services provided is $45/hr for commercial use, $42/hr for University and government-funded research. There is a subsidy for members of the chemistry department.